Osiris, eldest son of Geb the Earth and Nut the Sky, ruled the land of Egypt, and took for his queen his sister Isis.

Together, Osiris and Isis put an end to war and strife, and brought peace and plenty to Egypt. Osiris taught his people how to make wine and bread. He built towns and cities, temples and gardens, and laid down just laws for his people to live by. Isis taught the women how to grind corn and spin flax and weave cloth, and the men to cure disease. Under the rule of Osiris and Isis all Egypt flourished.

Till one day came Seth, younger son of Geb and Nut, brother to Osiris and Isis. Seth saw the land of Egypt prosper, and wanted it for himself. Seth was strong and cruel and ruthless. He turned himself into a fearsome creature, with four legs, and a scorpion’s sting. As Osiris strolled by the river at Nedyet, the Seth-creature attacked and killed him. Seth then hid his brother’s body, and claimed for himself the throne of Egypt. He took as his queen his sister Nephthys, Isis’s twin.

But Nephthys could not rejoice with Seth. She had loved her brother Osiris, and did not think Seth had done right to murder him. She joined Isis in her grief, and together the sisters mourned the death of Osiris.

Isis, heartbroken, angry, and vengeful, determined to find the body of Osiris, and bring him back to life. She swore she would have a son who would avenge his father’s murder, and claim the throne of Egypt as his rightful inheritance.

Isis and Nephthys roamed the land of Egypt, searching for the body of Osiris, till finally they found it at Abydos. Then, turning herself into a kite, Isis created the breathe of life with her wings, and brought Osiris back to life. Osiris woke up, and tenderly embraced his queen – from their embrace was conceived a child, their son Horus, within Isis. Osiris’s time on earth was over – Egypt now belonged to his son. So Osiris descended into Duat, the underworld, there to rule as King of the Underworld for all eternity.

Isis dreamt that she would give birth to a falcon, who would soar up, up into the sky, far above the land of Egypt. His eyes would be the sun and the moon, and with him would be identified the throne of Egypt forever. She called her son Horus, which means ‘Far-Above-One’.

One day, Isis was busy weaving the linen wrappings for Osiris’ body, with her little baby beside her. Thoth, the god of wisdom, saw her from his place in the Sun’s boat in the sky. Down came Thoth to Isis and said, ‘Do not show your little son to the world! Hide him, hide yourself – keep yourself safe from Seth, who has not forgotten and who will stop at nothing to keep the throne of Egypt. Give your son a fair chance to grow into a man, so that he may then avenge his father, and rightfully claim for himself the throne of Egypt!’

 Isis listened to Thoth. She left her home that very evening, with the baby Horus, and an escort of seven scorpions to protect her.

 ‘We must be very careful,’ said Isis to the scorpions. ‘Seth must not hear of our whereabouts, for if he finds the baby he will kill him. Make sure you do not speak to any strangers on the way for on no account must we let our presence be known!’

The scorpions nodded their understanding and prepared to escort Isis and Horus safely into hiding. Three of the scorpions, Petet, Tjetet, and Matet, walked in front of Isis and the baby to make sure her path was safe. Two others, Mesetet and Mesetef, walked under her palanquin, while the remaining two, Tefen and Befen, brought up the rear.

Finally, Isis, her son, and the escort of scorpions reached a place called the Town of the Two Sisters on the Nile delta. Night was falling, and Isis was in need of shelter. A large house stood in the middle of the town. It belonged to a rich noblewoman. Isis wondered if the rich woman would put her up for the night, but the rich woman refused, and banged her door shut.

A poor peasant woman had also seen Isis arrive. When she saw that Isis had no place to stay that night, she ran to her and asked her to stay with her. Isis accepted the poor woman’s offer, and took shelter in her hut along with her son, and her loyal escort of seven scorpions.

The seven scorpions adored Isis. They were furious with the rich woman and her rudeness in refusing Isis shelter, and decided to take revenge. That night, when the town slept, the scorpions woke up. Six of them loaded their poison onto the sting of the seventh, Tefen. Silently, quietly, Tefen crawled under the door of the rich woman’s house. He crept across the floor and into the room where the rich woman slept with her little son. Tefen crawled up the bedclothes, and stung the rich woman’s son, unloading the poison of all the seven into his body. 

The child screamed in pain, and the rich woman woke with a shock. She saw the scorpion escaping through the door, and realised that her child had been stung. Now a scorpion’s sting can kill, and the rich woman knew that. She wept and cried and she ran through the town, knocking on every door, begging for help. ‘Save my child,’ she cried. ‘Oh please, someone help! Help my child! Don’t let him die!’ But no one answered her cries for help.

No one that is, except Isis.

Isis understood at once what had happened – that the rich woman was being punished by her scorpions. ‘But why should a child suffer for his mother’s foolishness?’ said Isis to herself. ‘It is not the child’s fault that the mother is rude and arrogant!’ Isis hurried to the rich woman’s house, and took the crying child into her lap. Holding him close, she uttered words of magic over him, till the poison left him, and he was well again. The rich woman begged forgiveness, and in gratitude and contrition offered all her wealth to Isis and the peasant girl who had given Isis shelter.

In ancient Egypt, people would use Isis’s spell to cure their children of scorpion stings, in the hope that they could make them well just as Isis had made the rich woman’s son well.

But the spell did not always work, even for Isis. One day, she hid her little son in the papyrus marshes of Khemmis in the Nile delta, and went to search for food. She came back a while later to find that Horus had been stung to death by scorpions. Isis screamed in grief and terror. Her screams were so loud that they were heard by Re the Sun god, as he rode in his boat across the sky. Out of concern for Isis, Re stopped his boat, and the earth was plunged into darkness.

Thoth, god of wisdom, and ever Isis’s friend, left Re’s boat and came down to help her. He uttered powerful spells over Horus, and threatened that the earth would stay dark forever unless Horus came back to life. At this threat of Thoth’s the poison retreated from Horus’s body, and the child awoke. Thoth charged the people of Khemmis with Horus’s  care. ‘Look after him with more than your lives,’ he said, ‘ for Horus holds within him the destiny of the world.’ So saying, Thoth returned to Re’s boat, which once again set off across the sky, bringing back light and warmth to the earth.

All through Horus’s childhood, Isis kept him safe from harm – from snakes and scorpions and crocodiles, and from Seth’s schemes and plans. Till one day she felt that Horus was old enough to challenge his uncle, and claim for himself the throne of Egypt.

Horus presented his claim to a divine tribunal presided over by the sun god Re. Thoth, the god of wisdom, and Shu the god of air, both declared Horus to be the rightful king of Egypt. Isis couldn’t believe her ears – that at long last Horus was getting that which was rightfully his. She prepared the north wind to take the good news to her husband Osiris, King of the Underworld. But Re stopped her, saying he hadn’t yet made up his mind.

‘Horus, as Osiris’s son, is the rightful king of Egypt!’ protested Thoth. ‘Osiris was king, and it is only right that his son be king after him!’ 

‘Ah, but Seth is stronger!’ said Re. ‘He is also older, and therefore wiser than Horus, who is still little more than a child! Seth will make a better king.’ Re’s favourite was obviously Seth.

The gods argued back and forth for eighty years. They could not decide one way or the other – Thoth and Shu believed Horus to be the rightful king, while Re felt Seth had a better claim to the throne because of his age and his strength. Unable to decide, the tribunal of gods wrote a letter to the goddess Neith asking her to decide between Horus and Seth.

‘The throne of Egypt must be restored to Horus, son of Osiris, to whom it rightfully belongs,’ wrote Neith. ‘To Seth – give him treasure, and let him marry the sun-god’s daughters, Anat and Astarte.’ Neith was firmly on Horus’s side. ‘The sky will fall on Egypt,’ she warned in her letter, ‘unless the throne be given to Horus.’ Still, Re was not convinced. 

‘The throne is mine by virtue of my strength,’ declared Seth. ‘Let Horus prove that he is better than I, and he can have the throne!’ he challenged.

Horus, secure in his belief that the throne was his, and determined to avenge his father, agreed. ‘Challenge me to what you will,’ he cried to his uncle. ‘I will prove you the weaker!’

‘I dare you to stay underwater with me for three months,’ cried Seth to Horus. ‘The one who comes up first for a breath of air shall give up the throne of Egypt!’ And Seth turned himself into a gigantic hippopotamus and sank under the waters of the Nile. Horus, accepting the challenge, did the same – he turned himself into a large hippopotamus and taking a deep breath, sank into the Nile.

Isis watched the hippos worriedly. She did not trust Seth at all. So, picking up a copper harpoon, she threw it into the water, intending to wound Seth. Instead, she hit Horus by mistake. Isis realised her mistake, and withdrew the harpoon, and healed his wound with her magic.

 Isis threw the harpoon again, and this time she hit Seth. But Seth was her brother after all, however evil, and Isis could not hurt him. So she withdrew her harpoon once again, and healed Seth’s wounds as well. 

At this Horus rose out of the water, angrily demanding to know whose side Isis was on. He was so angry with his mother that he cut off her head – at which she turned into a statue of stone. Now it was Seth’s turn to be angry. Furious with Horus for hurting his sister, Seth chased him across the desert, and gouged his eyes out and buried them in the sand. He left Horus to die – blind and helpless, and full of grief for cutting off his mother’s head.

But the goddess Hathor found Horus and rubbing his eyes with gazelle milk restored his vision and his health. Meanwhile Isis too had been miraculously restored to life.

Seth then suggested that Horus and he make boats of stone. ‘The one whose boat sails the farthest shall get the throne of Egypt,’ he declared.

Horus agreed. He made a boat of pinewood, and cleverly painted it to look like stone. Seth was amazed to see Horus’ boat, apparently made of stone, floating down the Nile. So Seth cut off a mountain peak, and hollowed it out, making a boat that was 70 metres long. But Seth’s boat sank. Furious, Seth realised the trick that Horus had played on him, and turning himself into a giant red hippopotamus, smashed Horus’s boat. Horus picked up a harpoon, and prepared to launch it, to kill Seth and to end the dispute once and for all. But the gods prevented him.

Tired of this endless bickering, Thoth, the god of wisdom, persuaded the sun god Re to write to Osiris in the underworld, asking him to finally decide between his brother and his son.  Osiris commanded that the gods decide in favour of Horus his son. ‘Or,’ threatened Osiris, ‘I will unleash my fearsome servants, thirsty for blood, to pluck out your hearts and bring them to me.’ Osiris reminded Re that he was King of the Underworld, where all beings, human or divine must ultimately descend, and through which even the stars of the sky and Re himself must every day pass.

Re could not take lightly Osiris’s threats, and finally gave his decision in favour of Horus. Seth was bound in chains and led before the gods as Isis’s prisoner, where he relinquished the throne of Egypt in favour of his nephew Horus. 

Horus became king of Egypt, and ever after the throne of Egypt was called the Horus throne. Each succeeding king of Egypt was identified with Horus while he ruled, and with his father Osiris, king of the underworld, after he was dead.

As for Seth, Re still favoured him, and took him with him to ride in his Sun boat across the sky where his voice became the thunder in the heavens. You can still hear him during a thunderstorm, rumbling and roaring across the sky.